They work tirelessly all day under the harsh rays of a blazing sun, the stench of death and destruction around them. They are a team of Jewish heroes who are working around the clock with one mission: the recovery of human bodies.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

There’s a popular weekly satirical show in Israel called Eretz Nehederet. In a recent episode, an actor playing Benny Gantz, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and newcomer to Israeli politics, is asked how he’s feeling.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

(JTA) Norwegian rapper not charged with hate speech
A Norwegian rapper who cursed Jews while performing at an event in Oslo promoting multiculturalism will not be charged with hate speech, because his words may have been criticism of Israel, prosecutors said.

Did Israeli soldiers violate international law by deliberately targeting unarmed children, journalists, health workers, and people with disabilities during the past year of violence along the Israel-Gaza border?

(JTA) After the New England Patriots beat the favoured Kansas City Chiefs to reach their third straight Super Bowl – their amazing ninth in less than 20 years – CBS sports analyst Boomer Esiason made an intriguing statement, namely that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

We are winging our way towards Human Rights Day (21 March), the first public holiday of the year, which coincides with Purim. I can’t help but wonder about our concept of human rights and what it means, not least of all, to our government.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed in parliament last week that South Africa intended to downgrade its diplomatic presence in Israel. The foreign affairs bureaucracy was working “feverishly” on the matter. “The decision to downgrade the embassy in Israel is informed precisely by the violation of the rights of Palestinians and we are therefore putting pressure on Israel. But at the same time, we are saying we are willing to play a role and ensure there is peace,” said Ramaphosa.

Undeterred, and in spite of the hate-filled disparagement that spewed forth when Shashi Naidoo uttered positive comments about Israel and Jews last year, Haafizah Bhamjee penned a reasoned and sensible article on Israel and the Palestinians in the SA Jewish Report of 22 February.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

One of the questions that haunts the story of Purim and moves silently through the lines of the Megillah is clear and chillingly simple: How could Jews have chosen to remain in Persian Shushan? It was so clearly an environment in which anti-Semitism was so prevalent that a genocide could be planned and almost implemented without comment by broader society.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

Weapons of words

by
Ant Katz
| Jan 27, 2016

Today is International Holocaust Memorial day. On this solemn day, we mark the tragedy of all human tragedies, the Holocaust. We remember the 6 million Jews marked for death and destroyed. We remember the millions of Homosexuals, Gypsies, political dissidents and others who were deemed “undesirable” by the Nazi killing machine.

The 27th of January is the date that coincides with the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp by the Soviet Red Army and it is the day that the United Nations has designated in memorium.

As the world became aware of the immense atrocities of the Holocaust, it must be noted that the shattering of glass on Kristallnacht that accompanied the destruction of holy synagogues and the looting of stores and homes started with words. The gas chambers of Auschwitz and other death camps and the crematoria were built on incitement.

Whole communities, brilliant scientists, educators, artists, musicians and potential future finders of cures to disease and contributors to the world were wiped out because of an idea, fueled by words and perpetrated by an educated mass that were whipped into a frenzy of hatred.

Today, 71 years later, I fear that the world has not learned anything from the past. A wise man once said that those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it. Sadly, we are seeing alarming levels of anti-Semitism rise all over the world, often resulting in violence and death. For the past four months Israel is enduring a wave of terror, perpetrated by terrorists between the ages of 17-25 and some as young as 13.

Motivated by the daily diet of incitement and anti-Semitic vitriol and spurred on by their political and religious leaders, these young terrorists, armed with their knives and their venom, seek to kill as many Jews as possible.

In the last two weeks we have buried two young women and prayed for the speedy recovery of another pregnant mother to be, stabbed because she is Jewish. These women are a small snapshot of the now over 30 murdered and countless injured.

Our women are being attacked – in their homes in front of their children, shopping in supermarkets and walking in the streets. Today, Daphna Meir (38) z”l a mother of six and Shlomit Krigman (23) z”l, a young student, lie buried side by side on a peaceful Jerusalem hilltop.

We are burying our mothers, our daughters, our most promising students. We are burying our sons and our fathers. But we are not burying our hope. The father of the 16 year old boy who killed Daphna Meir said that he was “proud of his boy” who admitted that it was after watching Palestinian television that he was motivated to kill.

In a twist of bitter irony, Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki Moons stated “it is human nature to react to occupation”. This would be offensive on any night but on the eve of International Holocaust Memorial day it is purely repugnant. This is not a society that is deprived. Palestinians receive more aid than any other people in the world. The question we need to ask is where is the aid going to? The financing of hate education and incitement is more depraved than deprived and global NGO’s, especially those in Europe who donate money under the guise of human rights projects needs to be questioned and examined more closely.

No matter what your personal views on settlements or the disputed territories are, there is no justification ever to kill. Are the lives of our women less valuable because their address where they live is deemed undesirable? Is it not a policy of Apartheid instigated by the Palestinian Authority to say that Jews cannot live on any inch of a potential Palestinian state?

If you want to speak out on behalf of Palestinian human rights, it is incumbent on NGO’s, world leaders, human rights organization, the media and individuals to condemn the incitement of hatred that pervades this society and is tantamount to child abuse.

Today, as we reflect on the Holocaust and honour the memory of those we have lost and who have survived, as we watch the footage and listen to solemn, heartbreaking testimony and vow NEVER AGAIN, we need to ensure that this does not become an empty platitude. The theme of this year’s Holocaust Day is “bystanders”. We have a duty to those we lost and future generations to ensure that we do not become bystanders to hate. We have a duty to ensure that we do not repeat history.

Never again means never, ever again. Am Yisrael Chai.

1 Comment

1
stephen ballantine
16 Apr

11 million dead including 6 million jews. Estimates of up to 80 million killed in WW2. A terrible century to be sure. Elie Wiesel's words don't appear to resonate for Palestinians in this piece yet aren't Palestinians occupied, ethnically cleansed and murdered in their thousands- yet the tragic death of one Israeli mother seems to extinguish them. You are truly blind.